With a population of 600,000 Mexicans in Chicago, bicultural residents in Mexican-American neighborhoods often celebrate both Halloween and Dia de Muertos, one after the other and without mixing up their purpose.

A fun and commercialized day, Halloween brings children out to the streets in homemade and store-bought costumes to knock on the doors of immigrant-owned businesses on 26th Street. As is the local tradition, business owners begin distributing Mexican candy, cookies, and chocolate right after school on October 31st until dark.

The Day of the Dead, on the other hand, is a more private, Mexican indigenous, and semi-Catholic ritual that is celebrated on the 1st and 2nd of November.

Inside the home, immigrant families erect altars for their dead relatives so that their souls are summoned back to earth with the smell of the Cempasuchil flowers and traditional dishes and drinks that families prepare and place next to the photos and other mementos of the deceased.

Though still fairly unknown in the United States, the Cempasuchil flower or marigold, also known as the "flower of the dead", makes its debut in mid-October in cities like Chicago.

The welcoming arch in the Little Village neighborhood is currently adorned with yellow and orange plastic flowers resembling the flower of the dead, as part of a local effort to recognize the Day of the Dead, in its full meaning, in the United States.

Cempasuchil is normally imported to the U.S. Midwest in limited quantities from warmer states, like Florida, and start selling at the end of October, according to local flower vendors, Jesse's Flowers, Floreria Gardenia, and Crystal Flower Shop.

Experts say the flower of the dead blooms after the rainy season and its use comes from the Aztecs who grew it for ceremonial and medicinal purposes. Today it is used primarily to commemorate the Day of the Dead.

"We wanted to do something more cultural with the flower of the dead, and the banners on the light poles, because we want to separate the two events and highlight the Day of the Dead," said Blanca Soto, operational director of the Little Village Chamber of Commerce, which coordinates cultural events and the maintenance of the landmark.

The banners, which hang from the 26th St. arch towers, are illustrated with ‘calavera’ imagery. They were sponsored by AARP who, this year, launched an initiative to celebrate a genuine and traditional interpretation of Day of the Dead. One of their approaches was to decorate the CTA Pink Line Train with a Dia de Muertos design by local artist Elizabeth Reyes.

"To remember our 'angels' and relatives with respect, without ignoring Halloween, which is also a joyous day in the neighborhood every year," Soto said.

More public observances of Day of the Dead, such as neighborhood processions, setting up ofrendas outdoors, or cultural performances on the street, are commonly held in the Pilsen neighborhood and, in the past seven years, in the Back of the Yards community.